Introducing Sailor Taaffeite Starling… Make-up!

Celeste pulled at her black hair and darted her purple eyes angrily across the hall for the 100th time as the familiar voice of her nemesis cooed across at her. Glaring at him, a popular guy named Jacob, she felt a reassuring hand on her shoulder and looked up to see her two best friends, Sarah and Scott.

Celeste was an unassuming young girl: mid-height, short black hair, purple eyes, and the posture of a self-assured and somewhat hostile person. Sarah was the same height as her friend with mid-length wavy black hair, brown eyes, baggy clothes, and a more self-conscious look to her. Scott was a booming 5’11”, towering over his shorter 5’7″ friends. His height, blond hair, green eyes, and towering athletic physique belied his inner sweet gentlemanly manner…

In todays high school drama, Jacob, the 5’9″ raven-haired-sapphire-eyed-boy, was throwing insults at Scott. Again. Jacob is the most popular guy in Celeste’s class, the school’s star athlete, and he was a raging homophobe. This never sat well with her. Scott is such a sweetheart; it pained her that some people couldn’t see past his sexuality…

Celeste cupped her hands just as Scott grabbed at them, “SHHHHH geez let’s just start more shit! C’mon, last period is starting anyway…” Celeste laughed it off as she jogged into homeroom with Sarah and Scott close behind. Thankfully neither of the three shared any classes with Jacob though they were all on the track team together, and Scott had the distinct privilege of being on the football team with him too…

Homeroom was happily uneventful except for Scott teasing Celeste about scratching and wiggling her nose. Celeste couldn’t help it; for some reason her nose was just twitchy and tickled non-stop! She couldn’t concentrate either on account of light birdsongs coming and going in her head. Leaving homeroom, she and her friends managed to escape outside without Jacob noticing…

Scott breathed a sigh of relief as he smiled wide, “Another day down!”

Sarah, in her miniscule whisper of a voice, “Tomorrow is Wednesday.”

Celeste and Scott both looked at Sarah in mock rage and clapped their hands onto her back, causing her to catch her breath and cough. Celeste laughed at Sarah though karma was quick to intervene, and Celeste missed the last step at the foot of the school entrance and went tumbling over, barely catching herself.

Scott and Sarah laughed until they were doubled over. Celeste stared at her friends in slight anger and a good deal of embarrassment until something caught her eyes… A twinkle in the grass under a tree. Her friends still laughing uncontrollably, Celeste decided to investigate.

Kneeling down in the grass, she saw a purple crystal set in gold. It wasn’t too large though, fitting snugly in the palm of her hand. It sparkled brilliantly in the sun. Up above her, a starling started singing, surprising Celeste since it matched the singing in her head. Listening to the song of the sleek black bird, Celeste decided she would keep the crystal. Discreetly sliding it into her pocket, she ran to catch up with her friends as they embarked on the 15-minute walk home…

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Back at home, Celeste plopped down onto her bed. Her mother had left instructions for dinner and a reminder to do her homework. Being a latchkey kid had its perks although with both of her parents working at the school, it left her with little wiggle room to let her grades slide.

Celeste knew that the casserole wouldn’t take long to reheat, and she didn’t have anything difficult to do for homework… ‘Should I call Scott and we walk the mall for an hour? Or… wait…’ The song of the starling started bouncing around in her head again, interrupting her train of thought, and a strange warm sensation permeated her left thigh…

Celeste had forgotten about her prize she found from earlier. Pulling it out of her jeans pocket, it was warm and pulsed slightly… It was as if it was alive. She ran her thumb over it lightly, following its edges… A voice cut through to her, *They might be born again. Because this is the place where stars, and possibilities, are born…* She recognized that; she had heard it in her dreams before. Now it was muddled with the call of the starling too and a new phrase, *Flight of Heaven’s Starling, Make-Up!*

Celeste sat straighter on the bed, a perplexed look on her face, “WTF IS FLIGHT OF HEAVEN’S STARLING MAKE-UP?!” Instantly, her body felt hot, and she was blinded by white light. She could feel her body moving against her will, the wind whipped through her hair, and she saw the dance of a swarm of starlings all around her. The heat started to fade as the starlings flew back into the sky… the white hot light fading with them…

She could see her bedroom door again and looked up to find her arms crossed. She was wearing some strange gloves in purple and black. Looking down, she could see a bodice, bow, skirt, thigh-high boots, and two of her gems laid in gold trim. The theme seemed to be purple and black…

Her stance was odd and uncomfortable. Straightening her body out, she turned to look in the mirror. Crystals adorned her body, her hair was differently colored, and her outfit was cute but strange. In her head were murmurs of more phrases … but Celeste wasn’t about to repeat any of them now, certainly not after this fiasco…

Celeste had a sudden terrifying thought; her parents would be home in an hour! How would she explain this?! The panic and urge to return to her former self caused all the heat she felt escape her body suddenly, and she found herself staring back at the girl she recognized: 16-year-old Celeste, plain and simple…

Celeste lifted her hands and watched them tremble for a moment, “What am I?” Needless to say, she found a way to discreetly hide her magical prize as she set out to make sure dinner was delivered on time…